Need some Catheite input here, please!

[morningstar]

Okay, guys, this might be a really stupid question, but I am not afraid of looking dumb!

I get a lot of exercise, by most people's standards, if not by the average Catheite standard. I work out pretty much every day. Here's my standard week currently:

STS:
three times (just under 60 min each)

Cardio:
four DVD workouts (30-60 min)
four interval runs, mixing sprints and power walking (37-60 min ea)
one power walking intervals workout (32-47 min)

Walking:
five regular walks (45 minutes each)

Stretch/Yoga:
As needed, and after each workout

Abs:
one-two times, short sessions

I aim for burning 800 calories a day through cardio on strength days, and 1000 calories a day through cardio on cardio days. I expect I burn about 300-400 additional calories in an STS session and some more in abs workouts and just moving through the world. According to my scale, my BMR is between 1500-1575 calories a day (BMR is not the calories it takes to maintain your weight, it's the number of calories I burn in a day just keeping my bodily functions going).

My current nutrition plan is structured at about 1800 calories per day, with a cheat meal once per week, adding on an extra 1500 calories for that meal. I want to lose about 2 pounds of fat/week. My muscle mass is about 105-110lbs, according to my scale. My nutrition plan focuses on a mix of protein, carbs, veggies and fruit. I know 1800 is considered high by most dieters' standards, who seem to be able to subsist on 1200/day somehow. I don't think I could go much lower, realistically, and I'm not usually hungry or feeling deprived.

So here's the stupid question: is 1800 calories a day enough to help me achieve my fat loss goals or is it too much?

 

[hotdogsaregross]

Great question Morningstar,
I would like to hear some imput on this as well. I wish I could advise you myself.
I eat between 2000-2400 cal a day. I find it really, really hard to eat less than that. I think that 1800 cal a day for me, would absolutely help me lose my extra 5lbs of fat.
You are doing alot of exercise, your body will need the calories or it may make you hold on to your fat because it thinks your in a famine.

Mary

 

[orphylea]

My word that is a lot of exercise! I think your cardio is over the top! Aren't you tired?? At any rate, I think if you want to lose weight, you need to up your calories or your poor body is going to hold on to that weight for all its worth. Or...how about cutting the cardio to only 3-4 times per week?

FWIW, I found that eating 1700ish calories a day was not enough- I couldn't lose my 3-5 pounds of Christmas weight. My GWF helped me understand that I was burning between 2800-3000 calories per day. I upped my food intake to 2000 calories and I dropped a few pounds almost immediately. Keep in mind that I do STS 3x per week and an intense cardio session of about an hour 3x per week. So I am working out LESS than you and eating MORE. My lean body mass is about 115-116 just so you have a basis of comparison. HTH.

 

[LaughingWater]

Oh, how I wish the numbers game was easier.

I'm still trying to figure out what works for me. It's pretty frustrating, but I keep reminding myself that this is an experiment. I can't remember if it was the author of New Rules or Burn The Fat, but one of them said you just have to play with it.

For me, 1400 is when I start to lose fat. I can do 1500, but anything over leads to a little extra chub.

As with any experiment though, there are a few variables. According to my lovely fat calipers, I have about 100 lbs of LBM right now. I suppose as that increases, my daily caloric needs will increase.

I currently don't log in 60 minutes of cardio either ~ I'm playing with periodizing that as well. I'm at about 30 to 40 minutes but plan on bumping that up as summer approaches. Again, maybe I'll need more calories then, but who knows.

I'm currently staggering an average of 1400 calories per week, and it's working for me. I've lost 2mm on my pinchers. I feel okay too.

 

[Vee]

Morningstar,

I have no input for you. I just wanted to say that you exercise way more than I ever have.

You also eat a lot less than I did when I was in weight-loss mode. I cannot eat less than 2000 to 2200 calories per day without feeling hungry.

Good luck with finding the right formula.

You must be one F-I-T lady. I admire your commitment to keeping up a workout schedule like this.

 

[allwildgirl]

I have no input either, but just wanted to say....

You're doing FOURTEEN cardio workouts a week? Holy mama!!!!

 

[morningstar]

I have to admit, I'm a little surprised that so far people seem to feel that I am working out a lot. It doesn't seem that much to me- I used to work out 3-4 hours every day and this is substantially less than that (I think!). I'm not tired, and have lots of energy most days, even though I'm still recovering from shingles. Some days it's harder than others to get out of bed at 4:00am, but I just tell myself to do what I intended to do. And sometimes I just might skip a DVD cardio workout, and just make my interval runs more intense, or change a regular walk to an interval run. Mixing up different intensity levels of cardio helps, I think. The interval sprint runs are the most intense most of the time.

I am doing a lot more cardio than I used to- my focus used to be mostly on strength training (three times a week for three hours each session in the past); I suspect my body's still getting used to the cardio focus. Cardio to me seems much less taxing on the body than strength training.

 

[morningstar]

I have no input either, but just wanted to say....

You're doing FOURTEEN cardio workouts a week? Holy mama!!!!

Well, the regular walks aren't really at a cardio level, I don't think. My heart rate doesn't get above 65% for those. So, I think only 9/week, right?

 

[Miss Lee]

You are one dedicated lady!!! I SO admire you for that!

I don't have an answer either, but Patti's comment seems logical to me. You could be throwing yourself into starvation mode with your rigorous exercise schedule coupled with a reduced calorie diet. I would definitely try decreasing the cardio and increasing the calories a bit. Good luck and let us know what you figure out!

 

[lightening16]

What about sleep

Everything I read is that sleep is very important to weight loss. If you are getting up at 4 in the morning, what time are you going to bed? Are you getting at least 7 hours?

Just a thought
Heather

 

[morningstar]

Everything I read is that sleep is very important to weight loss. If you are getting up at 4 in the morning, what time are you going to bed? Are you getting at least 7 hours?

Just a thought
Heather

I do get about 7-9 hours sleep on most nights. I tend to lose my motivation for working out if I have too much sleep, believe it or not.

 

[Janis]

I am a big fan of Tom Venuto, and this is what he recommends in BFFM. Take your BMR and multiply by your activity factor. Most online calculators will do this for you. Given your cardio workouts and the intense STS program, I think you can safely multiply your BMR by 1.725 (the multiplier for “Very Active – hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week”.) Or even 1.9.

Then take that figure and reduce by 20-25% to find your calorie deficit. This, I believe, would put you around 2000k.

One of the things that Tom recommends is staggering your calorie days. Three days lower, then one moderate, then three days lower, then moderate, and an occasional higher day. So for you, you could go 1800 for a couple days, then 2000 for a couple of days, then 1800, then up to 2200. He isn’t a big fan of cheat days – just adding extra calories at each meal rather than a blow out meal.

However, given how hard you are working you could have 2000 be your low figure, and stagger upward from there.

FWIW, Venuto also recommends eating more (Feeding the Muscle) and increasing the cardio (Burning the Fat) rather than eating less.

 

[Shannon_B]

One thing I'll throw out there is I don't think you'll want to lower your calories at all. For the past two months I've been working out 6 days a week doing the rotations that Cathe makes up. Just this past week I've been watching my calories and keeping them at 1500 and yesterday I woke up extremely hungry, to where I couldnt think about anything else while I was in the shower. And today I woke up totally unable to do BM2, just waaay to tired. So I dont know how youre doing that much exercise, maybe I'm just weak? But I think I'm going to try 1800 cal. and see how that goes.

It's a weird concept though isn't it? Eating more to lose more? I don't think I'll ever fully understand that.

 

[marnapril]

I have to admit, I'm a little surprised that so far people seem to feel that I am working out a lot. It doesn't seem that much to me- I used to work out 3-4 hours every day and this is substantially less than that (I think!).

do you have a job? a life? lol j/k

i think it's obvious that you should not go below 1800 calories and could probably benefit from 2000. especially with so much cardio.

Just this past week I've been watching my calories and keeping them at 1500 and yesterday I woke up extremely hungry, to where I couldnt think about anything else while I was in the shower. And today I woke up totally unable to do BM2, just waaay to tired. So I dont know how youre doing that much exercise, maybe I'm just weak? But I think I'm going to try 1800 cal. and see how that goes.

It's a weird concept though isn't it? Eating more to lose more? I don't think I'll ever fully understand that.

it's not that hard to understand: your body needs calories to move, think, breathe, walk, replenish blood cells, grow hair, and of course exercise. if you don't eat enough, your body doesn't have enough fuel to do these things (hence why you couldn't do BM2). it also thinks you are starving yourself and it doesn't know when you'll get more calories, so it holds on to what little it has so it can continue to function. hence, no weight loss. your body slows down it's metabolism to slowly process the little calories it's getting. its brilliant if you think about it. your body needs calories to perform basic functions; it's a survival mechanism. the less you eat, the lower your metabolism. think of your metabolism as a furnace: it needs fuel to burn. if you give it little fuel, it will slowly smolder and sputter. if you give it adequate fuel, it will rage on at full power.

 

[Fit_mommy]

I am a big fan of Tom Venuto, and this is what he recommends in BFFM. Take your BMR and multiply by your activity factor. Most online calculators will do this for you. Given your cardio workouts and the intense STS program, I think you can safely multiply your BMR by 1.725 (the multiplier for “Very Active – hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week”.) Or even 1.9.

Then take that figure and reduce by 20-25% to find your calorie deficit. This, I believe, would put you around 2000k.

One of the things that Tom recommends is staggering your calorie days. Three days lower, then one moderate, then three days lower, then moderate, and an occasional higher day. So for you, you could go 1800 for a couple days, then 2000 for a couple of days, then 1800, then up to 2200. He isn’t a big fan of cheat days – just adding extra calories at each meal rather than a blow out meal.

However, given how hard you are working you could have 2000 be your low figure, and stagger upward from there.

FWIW, Venuto also recommends eating more (Feeding the Muscle) and increasing the cardio (Burning the Fat) rather than eating less.

ITA with this! I used the calorie staggering plan after giving birth to my son when the last 10-15 pounds of baby weight just would NOT come off! It worked like a charm! I was also paying attn to my macros though. I started doing this again 2 weeks ago as I have 5 pounds to lose after allowing my eating to go to pot for too long and it's working like a charm again. I highly recommend it!

 

[dmd]

At the risk of sounding even more stupid...

Wow, this thread has me really confused.

First, is your BMR added to calories that are eaten every day?

For example: If my BMR is 1200 cals a day how do I find how many calories I need to eat and how many calories I need to burn in order to burn 2lbs a week? This has always stumped me.

I am 47, 130lbs and 5'3" tall. HELP!! I don't get it! dmd

 

[Fit_mommy]

DMD,

There are a lot of sites out there that will calculate the amount of calories you need to consume in order to maintain your current weight based on your height, weight, age and activity level. A number is assigned to your level of activity with in a mathematical equation. The number is larger if you are more active. Then in order to lose weight you need to consume less calories then what it says your maintenance is but always being careful not to go TOO low or it could have the reverse effect.

HTH!

 

[nancy324]

Morningstar, what, exactly, are your fat loss goals? Maybe they are unrealistic? There really is such a thing as overkill.

 

[morningstar]

Morningstar, what, exactly, are your fat loss goals? Maybe they are unrealistic? There really is such a thing as overkill.

I don't think they are unrealistic. My goal is to eventually bring my body fat percentage down to 25%, a loss of another 7% from my current body fat percentage of 32% (At the beginning of February, when I started my nutrition plan, I was at 40%. Three years ago it was at 60%).

Losing two pounds of body fat a week I think is a reasonable goal. I have been on my nutrition plan for 10 weeks now, and it has been working - my body fat is coming down and my muscle mass is increasing. I should say, my exercise program isn't actually in place to help me lose body fat; I am relying on my nutrition plan to help me achieve that and my strength training to keep my muscle mass steady while I do it. I exercise because I love it and because it keeps me sane and strong, not to lose fat.

I'm not an exercise fiend and I don't have overtraining syndrome (although that may have been an issue in the past). For instance, today I have some sort of virus that's kicking my @$$, and I won't be working out except for maybe a walk for an hour or so. Maybe.

I have reached a bit of a plateau, however, and I just want to ensure that my nutritional plan will continue to work for me and consider ways of tweaking it to work better.

 

[morningstar]

I am a big fan of Tom Venuto, and this is what he recommends in BFFM. Take your BMR and multiply by your activity factor. Most online calculators will do this for you. Given your cardio workouts and the intense STS program, I think you can safely multiply your BMR by 1.725 (the multiplier for “Very Active – hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week”.) Or even 1.9.

Then take that figure and reduce by 20-25% to find your calorie deficit. This, I believe, would put you around 2000k.

One of the things that Tom recommends is staggering your calorie days. Three days lower, then one moderate, then three days lower, then moderate, and an occasional higher day. So for you, you could go 1800 for a couple days, then 2000 for a couple of days, then 1800, then up to 2200. He isn’t a big fan of cheat days – just adding extra calories at each meal rather than a blow out meal.

However, given how hard you are working you could have 2000 be your low figure, and stagger upward from there.

FWIW, Venuto also recommends eating more (Feeding the Muscle) and increasing the cardio (Burning the Fat) rather than eating less.

Thank you- that information is a really helpful reminder. I am a Tom fan too (obviously, given my tagline!) I have tried staggering in the past, and it didn't go so well, but maybe I'll give it another go.